Strega Daiquiri

I can't believe that this Daiquiri concept never came to me in all my mixing at home. Strega, instead of sugar syrup, is an excellent choice for making a flavored Daiquiri. You can't do it without rum, however. Flor de Cana Extra Seco is a good choice for that--a flavorful white rum that lends itself naturally to Daiquiris but doesn't fight the Strega.

This drinks departs so far from the traditional Daiquiri, and yet it is familiar. Lemon and orange juice replace lime. Orgeat replaces sugar syrup.

A rich orgeat is perfect in this cocktail. I'm surprised that more Daiquiris don't specify orgeat in some way. The balance of this drink is exceptional, between sweet and sour and bitter and nutty.

• 1 oz. Strega
• 1 oz. light rum (Flor de Cana Extra Seco used)
• 1/2 oz. orange juice
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. orgeat to taste
• maraschino cherry

Combine liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

Bali Hai (Revisited)

I'm told that this pseudo-Tiki cocktail was just about everywhere back in the 1950s and1960s. That is probably because it is named after a song in South Pacific. The drink is very evocative of Hawaiian cocktails of that time, if a little bit too tart. The proportions in the New York Bartender's guide are all out of wack--not that they are themselves wrong, they just make enough for two drinks, and I'm sure that can't be right.

I've re-done this cocktail because I wanted to make use of Aguardiente. When originally researching this recipe, I thought that any white fruit or cane spirit would work for Aguardiente--a generic name for white alcohol in South America. But I've come to understand that the drink requires the sweet anise flavored spirit that is native to Columbia. Aguardiente is made from sugar cane and sweetened, so it really helps balance all the citrus in this recipe. I'm still including the recipe as it was originally printed with the caviat that it makes two servings.

• 2 oz. light rum (Flor de Cana Extra Seco used)
• 1 oz. Aguardiente
• 2 oz. lemon juice
• 2 oz. lime juice
• 1 tsp. orgeat syrup
• 1 tsp. grenadine (I recommend 2 tsp.)
• chilled sparkling wine or champagne

Combine all ingredients except for sparkling wine in a blender with cracked ice. Blend on high for a few seconds and pour into a large hurricane glass or tiki mug, Top with sparkling wine and stir. Garnish liberally.

Pina Colada For Friends

I'm not sure why this cocktail gets it's own entry in the New York Bartender's Guide. The Pina Colada is a blender cocktail, so you can make a scaled up version of the single serving recipe if you like. But because it is listed in the book, I had to find an occasion to make the recipe that serves four people!

That is the reason why this is the last recipe in my quest to complete the New York Bartender's Guide 1997 edition. This has been a journey of more than four years, some of it frenetic during spurts of drinking activity and some of it drawn out as rare ingredients proved a challenge to find or make. All in all it has been an amazing journey and one that really made the mundane career as a bartender far more rewarding. It required me to go beyond the popular, the ordinary, and the safe. I had to create ingredients like Amer Picon, falernum, Forbidden Fruit and apricot brandy. I went on quests to find Lillet Blanc, Dubonnet Rouge, Pomelos, Batavia Arrack and Combier. And best of all, I learned how to make the most obscure and out of fashion cocktails just as the cocktail revival was underway, bringing these forgotten classics back to light. Now people ask for Aviations, Brookland Cocktails, and Swizzles and I can make them. So this goal, as arbitrary and costly as it was as, has enriched my bar-tending skill and my life.

Here's the final recipe of my long-awaited finale: the Pina Colada For Friends.

• 1 cup light rum (Flor de Cana Extra Seco used)
• 2 oz. dark rum (Pusser's Navy Rum used)
• 5 oz. coconut cream
• 10 oz. pineapple juice
• 2 oz. half and half
• 4 pineapple spears and leaves

Combine liquid ingredients in a blender with ice. Blend until smooth and pour into four chilled Collins glasses. Garnish with pineapple spears and leaves. 

Hinkey Dinks Fizzy (Smuggler's Cove recipe)

This cocktail is featured in Smuggler's Cove. It comes to us originally from Trader Vic's celebration of their fiftieth anniversary in the 1980s. A few things have made this cocktail a treat. I made passionfruit syrup specifically for this recipe and bought sparkling wine in small-format cans. I even got this stemless snifter that is large enough to hold this drink simply for the presentation.

But Roku gin is probably the best addition I made. It is very floral and somewhat bitter. Even mixed in this cocktail, you can taste or smell the cherry blossom botanicals. The drink has a great appeal with its blended ice and fizzy taste. Use a straw to drink this one!

• 2 oz. sparkling wine
• 1 1/2 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. passion fruit syrup (homemade used)
• 1/2 oz. apricot liqueur (Jaquin's used)
• 1 oz. London dry gin (Roku used)
• 1 oz. blended lightly aged rum (Flor de Cana extra seco used)

Pour sparkling wine in the bottom of a large brandy snifter. In a blender add ice and the rest of the ingredients. Flash blend and pour into the snifter. Garnish with a mint sprig. 

Grand Royal Hotel

This is an unusual drink that combines rum, creme de cacao and light rum. The recipe for the Grand Hotel in the New American Bartender's Guide lists Grand Marnier as the orange spirit. Royal Combier is a similar cognac and orange spirit that also includes some complex exotic spices that distinguish it from Grand Marnier. Combier is less sweet, which is fine, and the spice notes match the flavor that this rum drink is going for: chocolate, orange, lemon and baking spice.

• 2 oz. light rum (Flor de Cana extra seco used)
• 1/2 oz. Royal Combier
• 1/2 oz. white creme de cacao
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and double strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

The Golden Gun

Sounding a lot like a James Bond film, this exotic cocktail from Martin Cate's Smuggler's Cove cookbook is an easy way to go Tiki with just a handful of ingredients. The key, of course, is good rum and fresh ingredients. Demerara syrup makes the sweet flavor taste more earthy and exotic. Apricot liqueur ups the fruitness, and the rum is all important.

• 3/4 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. grapefruit juice
• 1/2 oz. demerara simple syrup
• 1/2 oz. apricot liqueur (Jaquin's used)
• 1 oz. blended aged rum (Pusser's Navy Rum used)
• 1 oz. blended lightly aged rum (Flor de Cana extra seco used)
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters

Fill a Collins or highball glass with cracked or cubed ice. Add all the ingredients to the cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake and strain into the Collins glass. Garnish with your choice of fruits, stir sticks, and herbs. (I chose a peach slice as an appropriate pairing with apricot liqueur.)

Dorchester of London Cocktail

This is one of those nearly extinct cocktails from the Harry Craddock cocktail book that was once served at the Dorchester of London Hotel in the 1930s. I found this recipe on an article about Forbidden fruit and wanted to try it with my own Forbidden Fruit recipe.

The Dorchester is my favorite Forbidden Fruit cocktail so far because it really shows off the complexity of the spirit without burying it in more citrus juice like the Biscayne Cocktail. Instead, a nice, floral gin like Roku is awesome in equal parts to the Forbidden Fruit. A smaller part of Cuban (I used Nicaraguan Flor De Cana) rum really helps to smooth the flavors out and add an round, aged mouthfeel.

• 1 1/2 oz. dry gin (Suntory Roku used)
• 1 1/2 oz. Forbidden Fruit liqueur (homemade recipe used)
• 3/4 oz. Cuban rum (Flor de Cana extra seco used)

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.